


The Beauty and the Beast

by EnukiTanuki (Treekianthia)



Category: Odin Sphere
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Beauty and the Beast Elements, F/M, Ficlet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-13
Updated: 2020-01-13
Packaged: 2021-02-19 13:08:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,146
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22244896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Treekianthia/pseuds/EnukiTanuki
Summary: (Alternate Universe) A quiet moment between a man cursed to become a monster, and the dancer who has promised to love him until the end of time...
Relationships: Cornelius/Velvet (Odin Sphere)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 8





	The Beauty and the Beast

**Author's Note:**

> This is a fic I wrote awhile ago for a fairy tale inspired AU that my friends and I were working on! Cornelius and Velvet are my favorite characters from Odin Sphere, so I instantly grew attached to their storyline in the AU. Unfortunately there's some context missing with this being the only fic posted for the AU, but I think it stands alone well enough as is

“Cornelius… It’s time to wake up…”

Velvet sat on the hard, rain-soaked ground as a small creature rested its head in her lap. Its blue ears twitched, and as she spoke it slowly began to stir. The creature lifted its head, but it was still too weak to lift itself up completely. Wounds covered its entire body, but Velvet had taken the time to wrap each one of them. The creature was important to her, and she refused to let it die.

“Velvet… What happened?” the creature asked. Velvet could still see glints of humanity in their tired eyes; remnants of when the creature had been a human man.

“Nothing, Cornelius… Everything is fine,” she told the creature as he laid his head back down. In his current state, he was frail and delicate.

“I changed again… Didn’t I?” he continued to ask. Gently, Velvet pet the top of his head and placed part of her dress over his body to keep him warm.

“Please don’t worry, Cornelius. Nothing happened,” she tried to assure him. It was a lie hiding a horrible truth, however, and both of them knew something terrible had happened.

Cornelius, her beloved, was a cursed being with a horrible beast deep within him. While the curse had turned him into a harmless creature, it had awakened the beast and caused him to change. What had originally only occurred for a few hours each night had turned into a transformation lasting most hours of the day, and soon he would be unable to revert back to a smaller form. He was destined to become a beast that would decimate the lands, and Velvet had no way to stop him. Her only hope was to comfort him in the times when he was closest to humanity.

“Please, tell me what happened…” Cornelius weakly begged. He held onto her dress with what little strength he could, but there wasn’t much left. His time as a beast had exhausted him.

“You… Y-you…” Velvet couldn’t finish. Images of what she had seen showed in her head, and memories played alongside them. A giant beast with mangled horns, decayed feathered wings, and ears that faded into a flow of electricity and darkness stood before her. The body of a once proud king laid limp in its mouth, and the beast's claws were covered in blood. A dark aura surrounded him, and lightning struck down as he growled.

Velvet felt a twinge of pain in her feet as the memory showed itself over and over. Her feet were sore from dancing, her having done so to try and calm the beast that Cornelius had become. The bravest Knights of Titania surrounded them alongside their Crown Prince, who watched in horror and awe as Velvet distracted the beasts with her movements.  _ The Beauty of the Beast… _ That is what they called her as the beast lowered the corpse in its mouth and fled. Velvet closely followed behind, escaping the clutches of the prince and knights who chased her.

“My father… I killed him…” Cornelius said as he curled up. “He begged me for mercy, but… I did not show him any.”

Tears forming in her blue eyes, Velvet continued to pet her beloved. “Everything is fine, Cornelius,” she continued to lie. Though they both knew the truth, it would only be more painful for her to admit it.

“Soon I will be nothing more than a monster, Velvet… I fear that I will turn on you too… You must… Run…” Cornelius forced out. His voice was distant and quiet, and Velvet could barely make out his words.

“I will never leave your side, no matter how much you beg,” Velvet told him as her tears fell down her cheeks. “Whether you are a human or a beast, you are still my Cornelius.”

“Please…” Cornelius begged with his last bit of strength. Exhausted and weak, the small creature lost consciousness. Holding him close, Velvet let herself cry freely as Cornelius slept.

She could not convince herself to ever leave his side. When he was a beast with no more signs of humanity, she would still be there for him. She would dance until her feet bled if it would calm the beast, and she would not let any harm come to him. Cornelius did not deserve the pain he was going through; he deserved to feel love, and she’d be there to give it to him. She would be a shining beauty in his world of darkness.

“I will always be here for you, Cornelius,” she promised before leaning to kiss the top of Cornelius’ head. Some of his smaller wounds were beginning to close, as the beast’s curse worked to heal him for the next time he changed.

Cornelius’ exhaustion and wounds had gotten the better of him, as he slept for much longer than normal to heal before changing once more. Once awake, he pushed himself away from Velvet as he cried out in agony. The transformation caused him pain as the dark powers of the curse consumed him.

“Velvet! I beg of you! Please leave me!” Cornelius cried out. Static began to form in the air as he changed, and Velvet’s hair began to stand up on edge. For the first time, Velvet saw lightning strike nearby as he transformed.

“I will always be here with you!” Velvet cried in response. She watched for what felt like the hundredth time as the small creature that was her beloved became a horrible beast of thunder and lightning. It roared loudly, and thunder boomed in the distance.

As rain once again began to fall, Velvet approached the beast with an outstretched hand. The beast looked at her with intense eyes as gray as storm clouds, but he would not bring any harm to her. Even if Cornelius had lost his humanity like this, Velvet learned long ago she was the one person he’d never attack. Placing her hands on the beast, she stayed calm as the storm around them raged on. It would not be long before Cornelius ran, but all Velvet needed to do was to follow the sounds of thunder to find him again.

“I love you,” Velvet told the no longer human beast. “I love you so much…”

With nobody else around, there was nothing to worry about. It was the two of them in solitude, and there was nobody that could hurt them. As Velvet stood there waiting for Cornelius to flee, she thought of all the people that had seen them. Hundreds, perhaps thousands of people had watched as Cornelius rampaged and Velvet danced with each transformation. She thought of all the people who would never see them like this, who would never see how kind Cornelius truly was…

To all of them, Velvet and Cornelius were nothing more than the Beauty and the Beast...


End file.
